Reading Redefined

For some reason unknown to me, a Newsweek magazine subscription I did not remember ordering or paying for began to arrive at my home address under my name a few weeks after I moved into my dorm room at UCSD. When I went home during the week of the Great San Diego Firestorm, I found a huge pile of magazines waiting for me on my desk. I love reading magazines, so that was definitely a treat for me.

After flipping through a few issues, I immediately logged on to the Newsweek website, found out that my current mysterious subscription will run until December, and changed the mailing address to my campus P.O. Box so I would be guaranteed to receive a bit of mail each week.


This week's cover story was on the new Amazon Kindle. While I've heard about and read short snipets about the new eBook reader, I did not know much about it and did not care enough to click on the link that has been on Amazon's homepage for a while now. My first impression, after hearing about the device while it was still in development, was not an entirely positive one; I couldn't imagine reading books on an electronic screen rather than in bound paper form, and didn't think that my apprehensions about this breed of new technology was too unique in the mainstream.

After reading the article and learning more about the device, however, my interest in the Kindle grew and now I would seriously consider buying a cheaper, sleeker, later generation of the device if it still exists after the initial hype dies down. I waited five generations to jump on the iPod bandwagon, so waiting a few years to see how this attempt at popularizing the eBook plays out will be no problem at all. The intentions - to get people to start reading for pleasure (gasp!) again - is definitely a noble one that I support.

While I will be observing the inklings of the portable eBooks trend from the sidelines for now, I will not be missing out on access to eBooks entirely; I noticed a mention of a website called "Daily Lit" in the article, and immediately put the magazine down to Google it.

I am so glad I did because the website turned out to be exactly what I was looking for - and I didn't even know I was looking for it!

Short installments of books emailed directly to my inbox? What an ingenious idea!

I am an absolute email addict, so this is a great way for me to finally get a chance to read all those classics that I have always intended on picking up in my spare time - and all for FREE!

(Did I mention how "FREE" was my favorite word right now?)

Before jumping into the longer, more intellectually challenging classics from authors like Austen and Dickens, I decided to try the site out with a less intimidating choice - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Registration was quick and easy, and I've gone through quite a few installments of the book already.

The site is totally awesome and did I mention that it is (almost - you have to pay a small fee to access newer titles) completely FREE?

Time to get your read on!